Oh Lucky Day

A deeply satisfying day which started with several daylight hours - well, all of them actually, working on my Masters dissertation proposal - and yessss, after mucho procrastination - I thoroughly enjoyed doing it - more of that anon. Then, this evening I went with a friend to the Pera Museum, Beyoglu district of Istanbul to attend a virtual concert, advertised as 'The Digital Concert Hall'. The Berlin Philharmonic were playing in Berlin and arranged through the Goethe Institute, it was streamed live here in Istanbul. What an interesting experience! The photo shows the concert hall in Berlin just before the performance. In some ways it was better than being in the concert hall because of the close up shots of the musicians - but of course the sound wasn't the same and it was really weird when at the end of the performance no one here started clapping! (Well, a very few of us did!) The conductor was Semyon Bychkov, the programme was Mozart Piano Concerto No 17 in G major (pianist: Menahem Pressier) which was delightful, followed after the interval by Shostakovitch Symphony No 11 which was electrifying - I was literally on the edge of my seat at times! Full body work out for all eight double bass players and well, all desks of violins too plus the extraordinary collection of brass, wind and percussion instruments was a visual and oral treat. Stunningly beautiful Cor Anglais solo in the last movement... several goose bump moments were experienced by moi and we were both exhausted when it finally finished. You had to be there.... !! Rounded off with a nice speedy taxi ride home with amazingly little traffic - oh lucky day.

P.S. forgot to mention that the icing on today's cake was the gorgeous day long sunshine ! Forecast is for it to continue tomorrow, which is great as another trip to the Belgrade Forest is planned and if I can get up early enough, I intend to go.